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Annie Kunz carrying on family's athletic name

The Wheat Ridge High School alum competing at the Tokyo Games comes from a family of athletes.

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — Annie Kunz is about as good of a multi-tasker as it gets.

She competed in a number of sports in her high school days at Wheat Ridge, like soccer and track and field -- winning state championships as well.

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, she's competing in the heptathlon while also carrying on a family tradition of athletics.

Being the baby of the family, Annie always looked up to her older brother and sister.

"She was their toy," her mother, Nancy, said. "They would fight over her. We would watch family movies over Christmas we hadn’t seen for years and they would cry over who could hold her. She had a lot of attention.

"Having older siblings really made it special; she wanted be like them."

>>Video below: Annie Kunz grows from Wheat Ridge High School star to Olympian

Annie took advantage of the opportunity to continue the family legacy at a very young age. The Kunz family name has a long lineage of great athletes dating back to the mid 1940’s. 

“Both my dad and Uncle E were all-state football players and both did track, both went to DU," Kunz's father, Terry said. "Just for everybody to follow them."

Grandpa Eldon and Annie had a very special bond.

"Talking about him makes me an emotional," Kunz said. "My Grandpa Eldon, he was just a big teddy bear. He was the most encouraging and loving grandpa anyone could every ask for."

Although he’s been gone for six years now, the messages he left her will be treasured forever.

"I would save every birthday he would leave a voice mail on my birthday. I still have all those," Kunz said. "Honestly not what he is saying more of just hearing his voice and that comfort that just hearing his voice provides me. 

"It’s special so comforting me makes me smile. So just having those while he’s gone means the world to me."

Credit: KUSA Sports

The rich sports history in the Kunz family includes Annie’s dad Terry who played for the World Champion Oakland Raiders in 1976.

"The Kunz’s name we come from we all are pretty successful and in sports. So, to be able represent the Kunz name in the way that would make him proud means a lot to me," Annie said.

But it begs the question: Who is the most accomplished athlete in their family? 

"No doubt she beat you. I can’t understate my tenure with the Raiders. I mean, there are 1,700 guys a year in the NFL," Terry said. "Her club is a lot smaller. I give her the top athlete node."

RELATED: 9Preps Honor Roll: All-Decade Athletes

RELATED: Wheat Ridge High School alum Annie Kunz wins Heptathlon, headed to Tokyo Olympics

Credit: AP
Annie Kunz reacts after winning the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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